OFF-DUTY COPS QUESTIONED IN GUNSHOT REPORT

Three off-duty cops detained, reported after gunfire heard at Westfield North County mall

Three San Diego police officers are under internal investigation after being questioned about gunshots fired near an Escondido shopping mall, authorities said.

A security guard at Westfield North County mall on Via Rancho Parkway called Escondido police just after midnight on March 6 to report hearing gunshots, police Capt. Mike Loarie said Friday.

The guard said some people were running near the On the Border restaurant. When Escondido police officers got there, they found three men on foot across the street, near some shrubbery at the base of a residential hill, Loarie said.

“They were detained and determined to be off-duty San Diego police officers,” Loarie said.

He said the San Diego officers were legally carrying handguns.

“We have no evidence of anything being shot at or hit,” Loarie said. “We had no evidence they were actively shooting before our officers got there, but it was certainly enough to not walk away.”

He said the circumstances “smelled bad,” but without evidence of a crime, the officers were turned over to a San Diego police supervisor and not arrested.

“We did what we would not normally do — we called their boss,” Loarie said. “If it had been a civilian with a concealed weapons permit, they would have been let go.”

Loarie said the San Diego officers cooperated, but he declined to say whether they admitted or denied firing a weapon.

Only the security guard reported hearing gunfire, and he later said he had heard a single shot, not multiple rounds, Loarie said.